Unfortunately, Maryville, Missouri was... boring. I was hoping to find some yarn stores or some fabric/quilting stores, but there weren't any. There was the Mozingo Lake Park and Golf Course, but I don't fish or play golf, and it was too hot to do any walking. We had the additional misfortune of hitting Maryville right when the big heat wave swept the Midwest.
Actually, Maryville is in rather sad shape. It has three large employers: an enormous Kawasaki engine plant, Northwest Missouri State University, and a jail. However, there were many empty storefronts in the city square, and there were two burnt-down restaurants and a vacant lot where it looked like something had been torn down. The one restaurant seemed to be in the process of rebuilding, but the other one was just there. No indication that it was going to be rebuilt and reopened anytime soon. It's sad that even with employment in the area, it has still felt the effects of the recession.
One interesting thing about the prison compound, there was an enormous church inside the fence, and one of the other buildings looked like it could have been a school building at some point. Mr. BTEG and I wondered if it could have been a regular church and school before becoming part of a prison.
At least the main part of our trip was successful. The Dancer and the Musician got lots of Law and Gospel, learned a lot about the faith, made new friends and got to hang out with old friends they hadn't seen since last year. Is it silly to say that seeing so many kids greeting each other after a long time apart, seemed almost like a foretaste of heaven?
1 comment:
The Prison was built on the Grounds of an old Catholic Girls school which had been closed for years. Nodaway County typically enjoys one of the lowest unemployment rates in the State. We have many factories other than Kawasaki, Energizer battery, Nucor/LMP Steel & Wire and Laclede Chain to name a few. Like all small towns, Maryville's downtown has experienced a mass-exodus of stores in the past few decades, (Thanks Wal-Mart) but there is an active push for some major reconstruction in the downtown that may soon become a reality. (Plans have been developed) Northwest Missouri State University is the lifeblood of the town.
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